A Quilt for Baby S

I recently made a baby quilt for one of my very best friends, Sandy.  She is expecting her first in a few short weeks.  San and I  {and our friend Ann} have known each other since our freshman year of High School.  I can't believe we were only 14 when we met.  It's so exciting to see her enter this new phase in her life.

San & her husband aren't finding out what they are having, so the most challenging part about his quilt was deciding on a gender neutral theme.  I decided on grey, aqua, orange, and yellow and started searching for fabric.  No green - can you believe it?! 

I don't have exact names of fabrics, but I purchased almost all of the fabric from Fabric Worm in their Children's Fabric section.  I just fell in love with the colors and patterns!

For the front of the quilt I followed the same pattern I used for the last baby quilt I made.  The pattern was designed by Vanessa Christenson of V and Co. and was featured on Moda Bake Shop.   You will find directions and templates for the letters there.  I altered the size of my quilt a bit, but followed the idea of her design for the front of the quilt. 

One note about the letters - I used Heat n Bond Feather Lite iron-on transfer.  I hated it.  The letters did not stick and I ended up having to redo most of them.  I will definitely not use it again.  I've never had any trouble with the other Heat n Bond iron-on adhesives I've used, so next time I will be sticking to them!

One thing I am really disappointed about - I used a pale yellow for the word 'sleep' and it's very hard to see!  You don't even notice it in the photo above.  I wanted to use an orange, but could not find the right shade, so I went with yellow.  Pretty bummed about it!  Luckily, I don't think Baby S will notice.

 

And the back of the quilt:

 

 

I didn't follow a pattern or the back, just had fun piecing different size strips together.  I knew that I wanted a full panel of the fabric below....Isn't it adorable?  The pattern is Jay-Cyn Designs for Birch Fabrics, pattern: Commute, Organic; color: To Work.  Find it HERE.

 

 

I used free motion quilting techniques for the quilt.  Free motion quilting is a lot of fun.  You put down the feed dogs on your sewing machine and you move the fabric with your hands to create the quilt pattern.  If you'd like to learn more, this is a great post from Oh, Fransson.  There is also a very helpful series on YouTube.

 

 

 

 

 



The only quilt batting I've ever used is from Warm & Natural.  I really like the feel of it and it washes up really nicely and gives the quilt a pretty puckered texture.

 



 



 

 

I had a lot of fun sewing this - I can't wait to make another quilt.

 

Here's a picture of us at Sandy's shower:

 

{ Ann, San, me }

 

I can't wait to meet Baby S!